Economy Class & Beyond

Sri Lanka to charge for Visas….

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If it isn't Australia or the United States of America, it's now Sri Lanka who will be charging for Visas. So if you're heading there from 1st January 2012,  you'll need one. Head to www.eta.gov.lk and be prepared to cough up the following: US$50 for tourists (a double-entry month-long permit) US$60 for business travellers (business people multiple-entry) US$25 for … [Read more...]

Keep your laptop close when going through Germany…

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Disturbing news from Germany today with reports of a sanctioned Malware component from German government. The Chaos Computer Club has discovered a  Trojan horse virus that is capable of spying on Skype internet calls, monitoring the online activity of infected computers, logging keystrokes, and updating its functionality via the net. The tenuous link to travel is … [Read more...]

Arik Air orders two 747-8i’s… huh?

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Arik Air is an odd beast. With bits of it from Nigerian Airlines, and different investments here and there, it operates a 22 aircraft fleet, focusing on Nigeria and the area, as well as a few long-haul routes (namely, London, New York JFK, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg). To run the long haul routes, it's drafted in a pair of Airbus A340-500's which can been seen flying some of … [Read more...]

Heathwick? What an awful idea….

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Hitting the press today in the United Kingdom has been the idea of "Heathwick" (with the Telegraph breaking it first, followed by the BBC The idea is to some simple - slap in a High Speed Rail link to operate between London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports around the M25, running at 180mph to 15 minutes and create a "virtual hub" between the two airports. Ministers … [Read more...]

Dutch Railways to introduce “Emergency Plastic Relief Bags”

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Umm. Are we sure it's not April 1st? Oh dear. In this case, it's probably true. This up on the BBC News site, who note that the Dutch National Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), is to add plastic bags as part of a first aid provision on some services. What you'll be doing in these bags... well.. is it to provide an emergency place to urinate. Or to put it bluntly - Wee … [Read more...]

Fares going down at Gatwick for British Airways

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British Airways must be feeling the pinch from all the other low cost carriers at London Gatwick, and has launched a new campaign of lower fares from/to Gatwick. Fares are down as much by 20%, for an undefined period (but not a short as a sale), and kick of from £39 a sector for Amsterdam, Bologna, Bordeaux, Malaga, Marseilles, and going up in steps from there (for example, … [Read more...]

UA: Lazy rebrand of the day

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The ongoing merger of United and Continental goes apace with the annoucement that the airline has decided what it's going to do about it's lounges. On the United side, it was The Red Carpet Clubs, meanwhile on the Continental side, they're know as Presidents Clubs. So with those rich heritages, what do you think United is calling their clubs going forward? Have a good … [Read more...]

EI: Irish Goverment – Psst: Wanna by 25% of an airline?

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It seems that the Irish government has declared Aer Lingus not to be in it's fiscal future according to RTE. Whilst no decision had been made, and there were some issues about the current value of the holding. The Irish State currently holds 25% of the airline, with the the government holding the 'strategic' no longer applies Now you'd expect Ryanair to be over this like … [Read more...]

WW: New fares to confuse you all

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BMI Baby seems to be modifying itself. Or it's paid a visit to the Strategy Boutique to get some new ideas with the changes of fares operated by the airline. Instead of the old two types of package, they're confusing matters with 3 types - FlyPlus, FamilyFly and Fly. FlyPlus is BMI Baby's go at a business product. This adds to your booking: No flight change fees One … [Read more...]